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Ironically, we are doing this same trip (Mesa to Raleigh) at the end of May, sans cat and kid but with Uhaul tethered to the back of one of our two cars.
We are seniors and have traveled A LOT of long trips with a full carload of boxes and with Riley the Gringo Dog in the US and in Mexico. We look for safety first, followed closely by comfort for our dog, then budget. Your priorities may be different, so my comments are based on our priorities.
Unless you've got an RV, I'd forget about camping, especially with the cat and dog. We have done the Route 40 trip, and will avoid it with the Uhaul. Too mountainous. I agree with you about booking hotels ahead of time - it reduces the stress level enormously - but agree with other posters to keep the driving to 8 hours. Ten is our outside limit. You are right - you do not want to stop for long and leave pets in the car. We do lunches at take out places, including Subway (very cost effective), McDonalds, KFC, even getting a whole rotisserie chicken at a grocery store. Bring some paper plates and plastic forks, etc. with you in the car before you leave, along with poop bags.
The hotel issue is actually EASIER than you think. The following hotel chains are 100% pet friendly, almost always without an extra fee.
Our preference is for La Quinta. We have also found that Hotels Combined has a particularly good search under "pet friendly" (it's on the left hand column, scroll down and check the box) and sometimes offers better rates than the individual hotel websites.
Another couple of suggestions that most people don't think of: Bring your pet vet records with you in the car. Purchase NEW ID TAGS for all pets before you go, lising your cell phone number(s) and your email address. Never allow your pets (including the cat) out of the car without a leash, with the end of the leash around your wrist in case they break loose out of your arms. I'm a big supporter of crate training for dogs, and that allows us to leave Riley in the hotel room, safe and secure, when we leave to go to dinner. I would not be comfortable just leaving him or a cat to run around the room, in case a maintenance problem occurs and a hotel employee has to enter the room when you are not there. We also crate him in the car, in case of an accident. Attach a leash loosely to each crate; in case of an accident, the emergency responders will spot the leash and use it to remove the pets safely. And carry a first aid kit, for pets and your yourselves, as well as bottled water.
We drive AZ to Massachusetts round trip at least once a year and we know I40 between Flagstaff and Oklahoma City very well indeed.
Agree with the comments on the I17 leg of your trip. The climb from Black Canyon City up to Sunset Point is going to be hard going as is the climb from Camp Verde up to the Munds Park area. I40 itself is not too bad with the exception of Albuquerque (as someone said).
It will be a haul for you to get from Phoenix to Tucumcari in a day. I did Sedona to Tucumcari in a car and not towing anything and that took 8 hours with just one short break for gas. Add another two hours on for Phoenix and you have 10 hours .... longer if you cannot maintain 80 mph on the highway or have to stop more often for gas. Also, you lose an hour going into New Mexico (Mountain Time) so you need to factor that in to your planned arrival time. Personally, I like to stop around 7.00pm - 8.00pm, have a nice meal and a good night's sleep. Also, remember you lose another hour when you get into Texas and another hour when you go from Central to Eastern so factor that into your planning.
Not much in Tucumcari but plenty of motels. It always reminds me of Radiator Springs from the kids movie Cars. We stayed at the Hampton Inn which was fine and an easy on/off from I40 on the eastern edge of the town. We like Hampton Inns when we are driving cross country. A bit more expensive than some others ($90 - $120 a night) but comfortable and very consistent quality. We also like to find hotels where we can walk to an eatery rather than drive (that way I can have a drink with my dinner; I don't do drinking and driving). Hampton Inn in Clinton, OK is very good for this as there is a steak place right across the parking lot.
Watch out for some of the smaller gas stations along the highway. They can be a real rip-off. Best to stick to the big truck stops and try to gas up in larger towns and cities where prices are often lower. A GPS is handy because it will tell you where the nearest gas stations/hotels/etc. are.
Unfortunately, I don't know I40 east of Oklahoma City so cannot help too much with this bit of your trip.
We drive AZ to Massachusetts round trip at least once a year and we know I40 between Flagstaff and Oklahoma City very well indeed.
Agree with the comments on the I17 leg of your trip. The climb from Black Canyon City up to Sunset Point is going to be hard going as is the climb from Camp Verde up to the Munds Park area. I40 itself is not too bad with the exception of Albuquerque (as someone said).
It will be a haul for you to get from Phoenix to Tucumcari in a day. I did Sedona to Tucumcari in a car and not towing anything and that took 8 hours with just one short break for gas. Add another two hours on for Phoenix and you have 10 hours .... longer if you cannot maintain 80 mph on the highway or have to stop more often for gas. Also, you lose an hour going into New Mexico (Mountain Time) so you need to factor that in to your planned arrival time. Personally, I like to stop around 7.00pm - 8.00pm, have a nice meal and a good night's sleep. Also, remember you lose another hour when you get into Texas and another hour when you go from Central to Eastern so factor that into your planning.
Not much in Tucumcari but plenty of motels. It always reminds me of Radiator Springs from the kids movie Cars. We stayed at the Hampton Inn which was fine and an easy on/off from I40 on the eastern edge of the town. We like Hampton Inns when we are driving cross country. A bit more expensive than some others ($90 - $120 a night) but comfortable and very consistent quality. We also like to find hotels where we can walk to an eatery rather than drive (that way I can have a drink with my dinner; I don't do drinking and driving). Hampton Inn in Clinton, OK is very good for this as there is a steak place right across the parking lot.
Watch out for some of the smaller gas stations along the highway. They can be a real rip-off. Best to stick to the big truck stops and try to gas up in larger towns and cities where prices are often lower. A GPS is handy because it will tell you where the nearest gas stations/hotels/etc. are.
Unfortunately, I don't know I40 east of Oklahoma City so cannot help too much with this bit of your trip.
LOL You're right...Tucumcari IS Radiator Springs! LOL The terrain the movie is more like around Kingman, AZ, but the town's are just alike.
We drive AZ to Massachusetts round trip at least once a year and we know I40 between Flagstaff and Oklahoma City very well indeed.
Agree with the comments on the I17 leg of your trip. The climb from Black Canyon City up to Sunset Point is going to be hard going as is the climb from Camp Verde up to the Munds Park area. I40 itself is not too bad with the exception of Albuquerque (as someone said).
It will be a haul for you to get from Phoenix to Tucumcari in a day. I did Sedona to Tucumcari in a car and not towing anything and that took 8 hours with just one short break for gas. Add another two hours on for Phoenix and you have 10 hours .... longer if you cannot maintain 80 mph on the highway or have to stop more often for gas. Also, you lose an hour going into New Mexico (Mountain Time) so you need to factor that in to your planned arrival time. Personally, I like to stop around 7.00pm - 8.00pm, have a nice meal and a good night's sleep. Also, remember you lose another hour when you get into Texas and another hour when you go from Central to Eastern so factor that into your planning.
Not much in Tucumcari but plenty of motels. It always reminds me of Radiator Springs from the kids movie Cars. We stayed at the Hampton Inn which was fine and an easy on/off from I40 on the eastern edge of the town. We like Hampton Inns when we are driving cross country. A bit more expensive than some others ($90 - $120 a night) but comfortable and very consistent quality. We also like to find hotels where we can walk to an eatery rather than drive (that way I can have a drink with my dinner; I don't do drinking and driving). Hampton Inn in Clinton, OK is very good for this as there is a steak place right across the parking lot.
Watch out for some of the smaller gas stations along the highway. They can be a real rip-off. Best to stick to the big truck stops and try to gas up in larger towns and cities where prices are often lower. A GPS is handy because it will tell you where the nearest gas stations/hotels/etc. are.
Unfortunately, I don't know I40 east of Oklahoma City so cannot help too much with this bit of your trip.
Wow, I did not really look into how long it would take to get to Tucumcari. I really don't know if I want to do ten hours of driving a day. I have done the ride up through Flag many times but never with a trailer.
If I plan on taking my time, I don't think I could afford or want to spend between 90 - 120 a night. I am definitely a budget kind of girl and don't require much. A fellow teacher made this haul (well NC to AZ) and he has two big dogs. He said that he got a Motel 6 Book and it gave him tons of options of where to spend the night. He said he would drive and make the decision around lunch time about which hotel that they would stay. He would call from on the road and make the decision of where to stay.
I also agree with JKgourmet regarding the pets. I already have all that planned out. I will actually be buying a cat a collar this weekend to get him used to it. He is an indoor cat and is microchipped so I never really worried about him having a collar with ID. I have the dogs vet records in the car already because I take him camping and want proof of his shot records if we ever needed it.
I wouldn't go I-40 pulling anything very large with a V6 as it has a long 9 degree steep hill that can be a problem for some loaded semis before you enter Tx. The advantage is the cooler air all the way to Tx. Winslow, AZ has the best Denny's in America and some nice motels. The Ranch House Motel in Sweetwater, Tx has huge rooms and is pet friendly. It is near and on-off Interstate ramp.
Having made many trips through the desert in the summer from CA to the Midwest pulling a trailer behind a pick up that will tow 5 tons, I do things much differently because of past experience with v6 cars and July temperatures.
First I am going to suggest that you exit California into Yuma, AZ because there is much less desert to drive through, and there are services in Yuma.
There are no services and no cell service in the desert. I now carry a CB radio and a NOAA (AC/DC) weather radio when I travel as mountains storms can be fierce.
100 degrees at 2am in the desert is entirely different then the sweltering 120 degrees in the day. For one thing you do not need A/C in the desert in the early morning hours. LA to Flagstaff is 6 hours in the desert versus 2-3 hours to Yuma.
All the U-Haul trails I rented were clearly marked 45mph only
Secondly I only drove between sundown into the next morning and stopped for the day until night at motels very near restaurants. The southern route is extremely hot in the summer. Once I got into AZ I would head to the mountains on an Interstate route. I like I-35 in Las Cruces to Albequerque because there are no steep hills to conquer.
If you figure 50mph from start to stop you will have a much more acurate time estimate. Your trip will average that with stops for gas, etc.. Most state parks have a pet area nearby. Put a collar and leash on your cat. She can get out and not lost. She will eat at night when you stop at the motel. Take a cooler with bottled water for you, your pets and kids. Different city water can cause stomach upsets to pets and people. Do not drink it. It can be messy and delay your trip. Not all states have high health standards, so I usually ate a well known truck stop like Petrol or Flying J. Red Griffin's in TX is good too.
I like Best Western. You can get a very good deal after two nights. The rooms are larger, the units are smaller and they offer more amenities. BW at Tucumcari, NM is excellent; it is a long haul from CA. It's nice little burg with a great Chinese restaurant and a good grocery store. I often stopped at night and picked up snacks like meat and cheese and crackers.
I think you will find 8 hours trapped with children and an unhappy cat will be enough for one day.
Good wishes, good travels with good weather to you and your family!
I thinkt he biggest concern most are having is the stretch from Phoenix to Flaggstaff due to that mountain climb. I have seen many SUV's loaded with passenegrs struggling to keep up. I have seen SUV's with trailers barley making the hill. And I have seen many vehicles on the side of the road with busted transmissions. But, i understand that transmission repair shops are plentiful along that stretch. Make sure you have a talk with your own mechanic about the vehicle, towing a trailer and get their honest opinion.
Anyone want to map out my trip from Loveland CO to eastern NC? I'm bringing 4 dogs w/me and 2 kids, so hotels are really out of the picture for us...
Will you be pulling a trailer or driving a U-haul?
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